Ok, I'm a new G owner(05 sedan) and have been following the wheel threads as I hope to get the totally hanus stock 17's off as soon as funds arrive. Please bear with me as I stumble through the learning curve which is pretty steep thus far. The chart posted about offsets has been a great help for shopping but I still have some offset / drop / rolled fender / camber questions. I want to run 19 x 8.5 & 9.5 or 10 if I can find the right offsets for a 1.5 drop all around in a wheel that won't make me get a second mortgage(retired military"at least I think I survived" and uncle sam doesn't pay alot as you can imagine).

Questions:

1. Ebay is flooded with staggard setups claiming to "fit" sedans but the majority of the 9.5's are +35 or 38 offsets. I know a 38 is perfect for the outside fenderline on an 8.5 but a 9.5 +38 is 1/2" outside the outside fender line(chart shows that anyway) which may work for a stock ride height but a drop is out with a 9.5 +38 is it not?

2. Does an 8.5 +38 on the front with a 1.5 drop need the fenders rolled or will it usually clear?

3. Whats the recommended offset for 9.5 rears, dropped with no fender rolling? Or is a roll a must....say with a +47

4. Lastly, If I go with 19 x 10 rears, can I find an offset that stays under the car without a goofy camber setup(lower tire has a wider stance than upper tire) as theres nothing more unattractive to me, very volkswagen bug the early years. If so, whats the offset as all I can find is outside the outer fender line. Do they even make a +57 which I think would put it flush with the outer fender line?

Thanks for breaking in a newbie, I wish there was an FAQ or sticky on this, if there is, sorry I missed it.

 

Welcome to the forums, most of this info you can find, but it's kind of cluttered throughout, so i'll just answer the questions you have one by one.

1. 19x9.5 +35/+38 can and will work at stock height and it CAN work even when lowered, you just have to run enough negative camber and roll your fenders.

2. You cant roll the fenders on the front of our cars, they're already pretty flat. A +38 will work even with a 1.5" drop. I had a 20x8.5 +40 with a 3" drop and it still worked.

3. Dropped 1-1.5" with no fender rolling and a 275/30/19 the best offset would be +45 or more.

4. If you want to fit a 10" rear without rolling the fenders and not having more than 1.7 degrees of negative camber then you'll need a +55. If you roll your fenders you can get away with a +45 offset and still have room to run -1.5 camber or less.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
-GP-

 

Great write up Grant! ya just ask Grant cause he knows what he's talking about!

 

definitely search around b/c a lot of sedans have 10" wide wheels in the rear. i personally experienced the fact that 10" wide w/ 42mm offset NEEDS fender rolling with my 2.5" drop

search is your best friend

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply Grant, thats exactly what I needed to know.

Da Mayor - Do you have pics of those 10" + 42 with the 2.5" drop, I'd love to see how that turned out.

Thanks,
Craig

 

search the boards got millions of pictures

 

Very clean lines, beautiful.

 

Here is a +40 10" rear.





And here is a +47 9.5" rear. I believe these will fit without rolling. And the Volks are for sale

 

+1 on what Gdup35sedan said.

 

I knew your 9.5's were 47 but didn't know the 10's were 40's. I have trouble looking at your car(mines black) without fantasy's of bank robbery's or lotto winnings for the Twin Turbo(or any turbo) setup.

 

I am running 19X9.5s with a +45 offset and no fender rolling needed (with a 1"+ drop) and factory camber settings.

 

can you guys explain what fender rolling is? thanks

 

Whats the widest tire one can get without a drop, on stock springs and shocks?? Got an 05 X AWD, but I wanna pull AWD fuse out till winter to run a staggered setup.

 

First off, thanks for putting your time in the military. Not enough able-bodied folks doing their part these days, IMO. I still have 13 years before retirement!

As for your goofy camber concerns, understand that your camber/caster/toe alignments are going to be affected by lowering your car, regardless of what size or offset wheels you run. To bring it back to factory spec, you may need to switch to front and/or rear camber adjusters (arms, bolts, however you choose...). All depends on how much you drop it, but just something you should be aware of, if $$ is a consideration.